1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to table tennis bats, and more particularly to a new, lightweight, stiff bat blade.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The development of table tennis racquets, also called bats, has been devoted almost exclusively to the striking surfaces rather than to the underlying blade. In the earliest table tennis bats, the hitting surfaces were simply made from wood. Since that time, bats have usually been covered with a sheet of hard rubber having outwardly directed pimples. This construction enabled the players to "feel" the ball and also permitted them to impart greater spin on the ball.
Subsequently a layer of cellular sponge was interposed between the wood bat and the sheet of pimpled rubber. The rubber of sponge functions somewhat like the strings of a tennis racquet to impart an elastic rebounding force to the ball thereby increasing the speed at which the ball left the bat. Later the outer sheet of rubber was turned face down with the pimples directed into the layer of sponge. Although this change in the direction of the pimples changed the speed at which the ball rebounded from the bat, the corresponding increase in ball contacting area enabled the player to impart even more spin on the ball.
The evolution of bat blades, on the other hand, has lagged behind the advancements made in the design of the striking surfaces. The first bat blades were made from a single piece of wood. Subsequently, bats have been constructed from multiple layers of wood glued and pressed together to form a plywood structure. Although plywood bats are generally stiffer than single piece bats thereby enabling the player to hit the ball with more force, the corresponding increase in shock and vibration transmitted from the ball to the bat makes it more difficult for the player to control both the direction the ball travels and the amount of spin imparted to the ball.